Saint John

Place of OriginCatalonia, Spain

Dateabout 1250-1275

Dimensions60 1/4 × 24 3/4 in. (153 × 62.9 cm)
Frame: 61 3/4 × 25 3/4 × 2 in. (156.8 × 65.4 × 5.1 cm)

Mediumfresco mounted on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1956.15

Not on View

Label TextThe fresco of Saint John was removed from the Church of San Lorenzo at Isavarre, Spain. It was part of a larger fresco of a group of saints painted in arches immediately behind the main altar. The saints lined the apse wall beneath a monumental fresco of Christ in Majesty in the apse vault. Many Romanesque fresco wall paintings survive from the province of Catalonia in northern Spain. Under Islamic rule until the end of the 8th century, much of Catalonia converted to Christianity following invasion by under Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire. By the early 12th century, however, the region had become part of the kingdom of Aragon. Many were built in the region between the late 10th century and 12th century in the Romanesque style, characterized by heavy stone masonry and round arches. The large expanses of stone provided ideal surfaces for carved sculptures and frescoes, a type of painting in which murals are painted into wet plaster. Spanish Romanesque paintings, like these two examples, often use strong lines that break up large washes of color and offer little sense of volume or shadow.Published References

Gudiol-Cunhill, J., Els Primitius, Barcelona, 1927-1929, I, p. 484.

Kuhn, C., Romanesque Mural Painting of Catalonia, Cambridge, MA, 1930, p. 59, pl. LVIII, fig. 1.

Post, C.R., A History of Spanish Painting, Cambridge, MA, 1930, I, pp. 144-145, fig. 24.

Cook, W., and J. Guidol Ricart, Pintura y imageneria románicas, Madrid, 1950, VI, pp. 95-96.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, July-Sept. 1960," Art Quarterly, vol. XXIII, Winter, 1960, p. 398, repr. p. 401.

"Bibliografia," Archivo Espanol de Arte, no. 136, 1961, p. 363, repr. page facing p. 364.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "Medieval Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 7, no. 1, Spring 1964, p. 3, repr.

Rogers, Millard F., "Spanish Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 10, no. 2, Summer 1967, p. 43, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 155, pl. 46.